Robin is a qualified social worker working in a variety of roles in his 25 year career including front line social work with children as a practitioner and as a senior manager. He has also worked as the Local Authority Designated Officer and from 2018 worked for Kent County Council spearheading their own Education Safeguarding team before he left in late 2024 to set up his own venture.
Working with education settings has multiple competing demands of which safeguarding is only one. Robin has excelled in his role in communicating the key priorities of safeguarding and empowering those he has supported to make the right decisions when it comes to protecting children. He recognizes the need to get others such as schools, clubs and associated settings to be more assured and confident in owning their decisions. His years of experience, knowledge and skills in this field is now available through this service to support others. His style of supervision, advice and support to other's is one of collaboration and learning together.
Robin was instrumental in writing various training products for Kent County Council and he took the lead on the highly regarded safeguarding review toolkit and process. He personally authored the child on child abuse toolkit found on the Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-agency Partnership website. He has hosted webinars, face to face training sessions and virtual training.
Robin also has experience of being a LADO in the past and also working alongside them. He has a comprehensive understanding of the allegations process and what meets the threshold. Robin is able to advise colleagues when to make a referral to the LADO or the police when there is a concern about the behaviour of an adult working directly with a child or young adult.
Since starting ESS Robin has been commissioned by schools to carry out various independent investigations relating to allegations against teachers and staff in order for decisions to be made about their suitability to continue working with children and/or being barred from doing so. He has also been able to advise settings after a serious incident involving potential harm to a child. Once this has been completed he writes a comprehensive report with a conclusion and recommendations for the school to follow.
Robin has presented a workshop at The Education People Show in 2021 on Harmful Sexualised Behaviour and a presentation at The Violence Against Women and Girls conference in Kent in 2022.
He has also attended various multi-agency forums representing education such as Domestic Homicide Reviews, Rapid Response meetings and Safeguarding Practice Reviews. Consequently he could support your setting when there is a need to contribute to the process.